UPDATED THROUGHOUT: Sources tell me the Writers Guild Of America is intending to grant David Letterman’s independent production company Worldwide Pants an “interim agreement” that allows the Late Show host and his writers to return to the airwaves during the strike because it doesn’t involve CBS. This comes after Letterman’s long-time executive producer Rob Burnett, who’s also president/CEO of Dave’s production company Worldwide Pants, has repeatedly tried to secure a WGA waiver for The Late Show. (See below for details of the bills Letterman has been paying since his show went off the air.)

This trumps NBC’s announcement coming Monday that Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien will be returning by January 7th 2nd. Presumably, ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel won’t be far behind. “A major announcement will be made by more than one network on Monday,” an insider noted. But Jay and Conan, who are just hired hands and not show owners like Dave, won’t have their writers to rely on when they come back on the air. And Dave will. The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, also owned by WP, would return with writers.

Here’s the statement from Rob Burnett:

“Worldwide Pants has always been a writer-friendly company. Dave has been a member of the WGA for more than 30 years, and I have been a member for more than 20. Because we are an independent production company, we are able to pursue an interim agreement with the Guild without involving CBS in that pursuit. Therefore, since the beginning of the strike, we have expressed our willingness to sign an interim agreement with the Guild consistent with its positions in this dispute. We’re happy that the Guild has now adopted an approach that might make this possible. It is our strong desire to be back on the air with our writers and we hope that will happen as soon as possible.”

Regarding David Letterman’s company, Worldwide Pants, seeking an interim agreement with the WGA: We respect the intent of Worldwide Pants to serve the interests of its independent production company and its employees by seeking this interim agreement with the WGA. However, this development should not confuse the fact that CBS remains unified with the AMPTP, and committed to working with the member companies to reach a fair and reasonable agreement with the WGA that positions everyone in our industry for success in a rapidly changing marketplace.”

At present, the other late night hosts — Jay, Conan, and Jimmy (paid the least of all and csaid to be close to bankruptcy) are paying for staff to one degree or another out of their own pockets, presumably. But Letterman isn’t just doling out $300,000 a week in salary for the non-writing staff of two shows, his and The Late Late Show starring Craig Ferguson which Worldwide Pants also owns. Dave also pays for the rent of the Ed Sullivan Theatre Building in NYC and insurance for 200+ workers, I’m told. “So, triple that figure and you’ll be close to what he’s been shelling out a week for six weeks,” a source says. “I’m tired of everyone being lumped together for taking roughly the same out-of-pocket hit. It’s not close.”

I’ve learned that Worldwide Pants approached the Writers Guild early before the strike and tried to get a waiver and stay on the air. The company’s argument was that it’s a small production company that supports the WGA And that whatever deal the guild negotiated, Worldwide pants would adhere to. At first, I’m told, the guild thought making side deals might weaken its bargaining position. But now that the labor action is dragging on seven weeks without an end in sight, the guild has rethought its position in an attempt to induce individual studios and networks to cut separate deals with the WGA.

UPDATE: I’ve been trying to reach Letterman head writers Justin and Eric Stangel (they’re brothers and share that title) for comment. But Late Show staff writer and strike captain Bill Scheft (photo right) just told me he knew nothing about Letterman’s attempt to obtain the WGA waiver. “I got the update letter today from the WGA about separate deals and then thought, ‘If we were smart, we’d be first on that line,’ he said. “They should give Dave the waiver just for singlehandedly keeping six shows off the air for two months and choking off a revenue stream the networks had counted on.”

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Dude, you have GOT to be kidding. You listed about 27 things that Letterman or presumably anyone...

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I asked Scheft how he feels knowing there’s even a possibility he could return to work in a matter of days, not months. “Nikki, you have no idea. Very emotional just to think about it. Every single day on the picket line, every day, people from the staff come and visit us. My goal is always to get through the visit without sobbing. A goal not always reached.”

In an earlier email exchange, Scheft told me, the WGA “can thank Dave for the other guys staying off and paying their staffs, in my opinion. You have to wonder if they can wield more influence as on-camera advocates for the cause. As I have said since the beginning, Dave Letterman on the air without writers, pissed off he has no writers, railing nightly against network weasels and haircuts, is the greatest ally writers can have. And he will reach a much wider audience about the strike than we have been able to so far.”

98 Comments

This is great news! With each interim deal that gets made, the AMPTP will increasingly be sidelined.

A Writer • on Dec 15, 2007 1:04 pm

Well hopefully Jay and Conan will realize that this is a great step in pressuring the owners of THEIR shows to negotiate. I mean, really the headline should read:

“Dave cooks up a deal that Jay & Conan’S BOSSES won’t like”

It’s the owners of the show that are gonna be boned, not the guys in front of the camera who are demonstrating amazing leadership throughout this whole thing. (And it will be remembered!!!)

Former Letterman Fan • on Dec 15, 2007 1:04 pm

Dave, your idol Carson went four months before going back during the last strike, and you’re only holding out half that long? Say it ain’t so!

Don’t go back until after sweeps!

BeeKay • on Dec 15, 2007 1:04 pm

But how in the world does getting Letterman or any other show back on the air, (this, the same “air” as owned and controlled by Viacom, Disney, Sony et. all), possibly, under any imaginable circumstances do anything what-so-ever to help the WGA to end the strike? Ultimately this action is still enriching the same fat-cats we’re supposedly locked into monetary combat with, so I’m confused. Letterman going back on the air benefits the WGA or Viacom? Somebody please explain…

pb • on Dec 15, 2007 1:04 pm

Hold the phones! Mr. Letterman back on the air?

Oh my, this is a double edged sword – razor sharp – all in the pursuit of the all-mighty advertising dollars that are quickly disappearing from the networks bank accounts.

Plus it sure tells Jay how to set up his next contract at Fox or elsewhere, doesn’t it?

Surely Conan is sniffing the air too.

Craig… well, he’s working on something pithy based on an encounter with a bear in Scotland, wearing the same clan kilt as he does, while riding in golf cart hunting snipe with bow and arrows and wondering why “it’s breezy down there.”

As has been pointed out here and elsewhere the finely tuned minds, the Late Nighters have been very supportive of their people. Imagine Dave and the others with their bully pulpits… lovely. I wonder what their “jokes” will be about? The election next year? Boring.

And if Dave leads the charge due to his unique situation of owning his show, the others will follow as the AMPTP dam will have sprung a huge leak and the Networks are going to rush through the opening to reclaim their shares.

And Dave can set the standard high in bringing back his staff at or above the existing conditions requested by the WGA – the other edge of that sword… No one will be able to limbo under that agreement as that creates a higher threshold than AMPTP, which already has nightmares about in the here and now as it’s being played out.

Oh I do see lawyers, guns and money at play. But perhaps it’s time to return to the Golden Age of Television. No tape. Live E.S.T. feeds and audiences in the mix. Go live Dave. Just do it.
And to encourage the raw energy level, hand out 12 video cameras to be used by the audience, both as live feeds and tape backups. If the Network/s shut down the feeds… turn the tapes over to YouTube. Vive la Net!

Somebody needs to explain to me how this is really a good idea. Letting a select few work while the rest of us wear out our shoe leather on a picket line just doesn’t seem all that smart or fair — last I heard, even though World Wide Pants owns Late Night with David Letterman, the show still gets broadcast on CBS (you remember them, they’re the ones helmed by Les Moonves who hasn’t exactly been kind in his comments toward writers. And what about the rest of writers on CBS, do they just keep walking and ask themselves, “Gosh, if only Letterman was my boss.”)…Instead, it strikes me anyway, as playing right into the greedy hands of the AMPTP, who are licking their chops and saying, “See? We knew they’d break.”

shelly • on Dec 15, 2007 1:04 pm

I have a question- who owns Youtube?

WGA Dude • on Dec 15, 2007 1:04 pm

They have been off the air for close to two months. They have paid their staff’s salaries. I support them coming back with or without writers.

Why complain? This will make the genre interesting again.

land surveyor k • on Dec 15, 2007 1:04 pm

former letterman fan — what dave is doing is good for the writers! if we can get the amptp to stop bargaining as a cartel… if we can “divide and conquer” them like they’re trying to do with us… (making us doubt our leadership)… that would be fucking fantastic

Thanks Davae • on Dec 15, 2007 1:04 pm

But it’s all in the details, no? Is Letterman going to give us the kind of money we’ve been asking for in terms of downloads, streaming, iTunes, etc? Will Letterman agree that any reality shows he may produce in the future will be WGA shows? Ditto for any animation his company may do?

If so, this isn’t divide and conquer, this is the dike coming down and ain’t nobody can hold back that water.

Bill • on Dec 15, 2007 1:04 pm

It certainly sets up the possibility that the interim contract between Letterman and the WGA will have a spoiling effect on the AMPTP’s ability to continue their party line that the WGA’s demands (granted, not all of them apply to this situation) are unreasonable/cannot be supported by the market.

Jimmy • on Dec 15, 2007 1:04 pm

Why would the WGA want to approve this? This only helps CBS and makes it easier for them to hold out longer while a greater majority of writers are still without work.

mackherron • on Dec 15, 2007 1:04 pm

You can be a Former Letterman Fan, but get your facts straight. The 1988 writers strike began on March 7. Johnny Carson returned May 11, not four months later. And he returned without writers. Don’t ask who wrote his monologue for the last three and half months of the strike. Not nice to speak ill of the dead. Dave returned June 28,1988 and only after pressure from the network and Carson Productions, which owned Late Night. If you read Nikki’s post, Dave’s company is seeking an interim agreement to return WITH writers at the concessions the WGA seeks. This is hardly seditious to the cause.

I love CBS’ response: “CBS remains unified with the AMPTP…and if this means our late night show can take the competition to the cleaners…oh well!” Hey, if “Divide And Conquer” gets the rest of the AMPTP back to the negotiating table, then: Please Dave – DIVIDE AND CONQUER!

joe • on Dec 15, 2007 1:04 pm

It’s huge. I hope. Dave has been my hero since 1980. I hope he makes them bleed.

There is virtually NOTHING about the strike on television. What a surprise, but it oughta be illegal. It’s a huge, ignored story, because a few powers have all the beans.

JC

jimmy • on Dec 15, 2007 1:04 pm

wow, this is so incredible. if this actually happens, it makes it clear to anyone and everyone that the writers are not the ones holding up a reasonable deal.

it’s the moguls.

and they will have letterman on the air probably talking about it as well.

i have always been a fan of david letterman as an entertainer, but he has added to his legacy that his is a decent, thoughtful, principled man who actually has the balls to say and do the right things in the face of very powerful men.

and he’s been doing it since he was roughed up in front of the ge building with a fruit basket nearly 30 years ago.

go dave.

Tom • on Dec 15, 2007 1:04 pm

I believe the return of the talk shows will be the end of this strike. Without talk shows, the studios had no way to push their Christmas releases. This is the one immediate weapon the WGA has against the film divisions and they’re giving it up… I appreciate that Letterman is a great guy, writer-friendly, etc. But the return of Letterman, Leno and Kimmel is when the levee breaks.

George Glass • on Dec 15, 2007 1:04 pm

I think it’s great that Dave is making an independent deal (like Carsey Werner did in ’88, i believe.)

But if the other talk show hosts all go back to work at the same time (as it looks like they might) how does it put pressure on the other networks to make a deal? If only CBS had a popular late night show and NBC and ABC were forced to show reruns, I would get it, but if all of Nikki’s news is true, then I’m confused.

In any case, I’m glad the WGA is trying new options. Some will work out better than others, but at least it’s something. (And yes, in the process, some writers will be able to go back to work while their peers won’t — which sucks — but that might just be the price to be paid to get a reasonable deal in the end. We have to keep focused on the big picture.)

And Dave will get all the Movie Interviews. Though that is certainly a mixed bag.

And for the fan earlier. The Writers are not striking against the AMPTP. The AMPTP are negotiating for the companies that the writers are striking.

And isn’t it marvelous that Les Moonves’s company is the first one to benefit from the new Contracts? Won’t the “Other Guys” just really honor him for it?

please read before you weep • on Dec 15, 2007 1:04 pm

Before everyone shits a brick over Dave ‘not being able to wait it out’ or whatever, go back and read that the interim agreement basically gives the WGA everything they’re asking for. I can’t see how a writer could not see this as a major coups for their side, in fact a first for the WGA since this strike began. For the first time, someone is meeting their demands, and for the first time, people are coming back to work. This is huge.

Non Union Writer • on Dec 15, 2007 1:04 pm

I think this is fantastic news. So the WGA is giving Les Moonves control of the late night timeslot. But now the NBC is going to start thinking how they can get Leno back with writers. Sometimes you have to give an inch to take a yard.

This could possibly be the first step in a mogul doing a quick backdoor deal so they too can have fresh content. Imagine if one studio, even if for only a few days, had a monopoly on the purchase of any and every script in town because they came to the table while the others all had their doors closed.

casualobserver • on Dec 15, 2007 1:04 pm

This is an excellent strategy by the WGA. There’s nothing for them lose by doing it, and potentially a lot to gain.

david aquarius • on Dec 15, 2007 1:04 pm

Did CBS Interactive pull the plug on the hugely successful and popular fansite Startrek.com? On Dec. 10, the WGA held a ‘Star Trek Day’ that encouraged fans and stars of the Star Trek franchise to gather in support of the WGA strike. The call to arms was featured prominently on the fansite with photos and commentary from the field. Now, less than a week later, the site administrators give us the news that they have all been fired, effective immediately.

Retaliation?

A Letterman Fan Once More • on Dec 15, 2007 1:04 pm

This is going to put a big dent in the AMPTP’s public relations strategy when those “inexperienced”, “incapable” and “desperate” writers are able to negotiate a fair contract to give the fans Letterman back while the moguls are caught sitting on their hands. “Divide and conquer” may be the smartest thing the guild leadership has done since the picket lines went up. Keep it up, we’d all love to see some of that paranoia go Big Media’s way.